Paul Johnson Imaginghttps://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com
Making a new life from my passion "capturing moments"Thu, 17 Aug 2017 15:05:23 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://pauljohnsonphotoart.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/cropped-logosquarecrop.jpg?w=32Paul Johnson Imaginghttps://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com
3232The End is Nighhttps://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2017/03/28/the-end-is-nigh/
https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2017/03/28/the-end-is-nigh/#commentsTue, 28 Mar 2017 21:17:28 +0000http://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/?p=1129More The End is Nigh]]>

so alas good people of the internet my studies at Solihull College and university centre are coming to a close and with one giant task ahead of me the “Final major project” begins. This is where the culmination of everything i have learnt and studied at college are put to the test. effectively showcasing one body of work to truly show off what i can do. Now obviously i am not one to shy away from a challenge, so i am taking the bull by the horns so to speak, we have been asked to come up with three project briefs to put forward to my class at college. and after countless hours of research i have compiled them below for your pleasure

Proposal 1

“Coventry culture” a wet plate collodion perspective

as a proud coventrian i feel i owe it to my fellow people of coventry to capture something that truly represents the diversity and strength within our city. Coventry is a city which is currently going through the motions for city of culture 2021. now with the bid being active and very heavily supported and advertised i thought i could do my bit so to speak to help portray the vast diversity and culture of coventry. There are many different languages spoken in coventry over 100 to be exact each of these languages have come from the four corners of the globe and these fine people have chosen to lay their head in coventry. Now obviously all of these different people bring a vast array of culture to the city. now if we look up the oxford english dictionary meaning of culture it says “Culture, the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively.

i would look to utilise my favourite photographic method of utilising the historic process of wet plate collodion to capture various artists and cultural in there natural habitat so to speak. there is a vast array of artists/ artisans that specialise and excel in the city of coventry so i would aim to gain environmental portraits of as many of these to show the multitude of diverse culture.

costs and considerations

wet plate collodion has its drawbacks but despite these negatives i like to focus on the positives (see what i did there) all puns aside i love the process and i adore the final images that i get from this as there is no one else in coventry that i know of that is actively using wet late collodion i feel it a duty to ensure that this process becomes a part of coventry’ rich culture. cost wise it is an expensive process but as i all-ready have all the required equipment the only consideration in terms of cost would be the chemicals. i have a silver bath which requires maintenance after shoots and at longer intervals the only things i would need to buy would be the substrate ( the surface which i choose to take the image on) so this could be either glass or trophy tin (aluminium), collodion (a mixture of gun cotton and ether) , fixer , and sandarac varnish. now these individually are probably the cheapest of the chemicals for the process but i would have to ensure i stockpile a decent amount of them to ensure i prepare effectively for all shoots.

other considerations and the how to

the main aspect for this field of work is time, collodion is not a quick process in the conventional sense. from preparing your chemicals for a shoot to maintaining your equipment of which there is lots to physically setting up your darkroom at a shoot to taking the images and processing. however with all this in mind i still find the process of having a sitter see the images come out in the fixer is part of the magic and i wouldn’t want it any other way. the interactiveness of this process is another way to raise the excitement level for the people involved and this is one of my key parts when approaching subjects for this project. Most importantly is the logistics of arranging shoots with various artists/artisans around the city for the photoshoots themselves the biggest problem i could see myself arising is the lack of space i may have when visiting artists studios and spaces. collodion takes lots of space with the portable darkroom. so it may be a possibility to overcome this is have the artists visit the studio with items that relate to their process and work so for instance a fine art painter may bring an easel and a canvas of their work and set up and shoot.

coventry is well known for having received some of the heaviest bombings during world war 2 at the hands of the Luftwaffe. the air raids began in June 1940 and continued almost relentlessly until august 1942, over 1500 coventry people during this time were reported killed. 80% of these 1500 were killed between the three big raids, the 14th of November 1940 and the 8th and 10th of April 1941. as i said in my first proposal i am a very proud coventrian and i believe we are only as strong as our history. coventry has faced incredible challenges through these bombings and a huge loss of life but those who stood at the end of it all, stood and fought. they fought by rebuilding and starting again. thousands of homes were lost and the resilience of the coventrian’s dusted themselves off even through the heartache of losing loved ones carried on and stood triumphant. we live in a world where war and horrific acts are being carried out daily, but i personally could not imagine the terror that these fine people of coventry must have been awash with. As a child and even a teen i had stories told to me by my grandmother of the fires of coventry, she was in bedworth at the time of the November raids and she told of the red in the sky and the sounds of planes going overhead. i never had a chance to document these memories of hers. and i feel that without capturing these memories they may be lost. obviously many of these survivors of the blitz still remain some in coventry and some elsewhere in the world. and i am sure their own accounts of what happened on that night and during all of the raids will have been told to others and to friends and family. i would look to capture their stories in a slightly different way to try and have a true impact on my audience. as above with my wet plate collodion process i feel would have a connection to these people that remain. the survivors of the blitz must be at least 83 to have recognition and stories of these events. i would look to photograph the survivors in the symbol of strength and determination the coventry cathedral.

Costs

the costs in terms of shooting with wet plate collodion would be the same as the first project so this is kept in mind. Additional costs that i may incur would be transport costs for the sitters to get to the old cathedral. this would all be dependant on how far the sitter would be from coventry city centre and if at all they can get there.

considerations and the How to

the first of my considerations would be the logistics of the shoots. now obviously with people over the age of 83 they may not be mobile so i would have to approach as many of these survivors as possible. i would have to approach the coventry city council and the church to ask permission for shooting on the grounds of the old cathedral. i would also seek the help of an person by the name of Trevor Harkin who is a historian who specialises in the Blitz on coventry and has published books to that affect. all considerations and costs for the first project would apply to this project as well.

Proposal 3

Artwork by Irving Penn, Still Life with Skull, Pitcher and Medecine

still life collodion

one series of work i have always looked at and revered is the still life work of Irving Penn. Irving Penn was famously known for his work within the fashion world as a highly successful photographer he put his photographic talents to the almost witty composition of found objects. these somewhat inanimate objects would com together to form abstract still life pieces. the purpose of me focussing on this style of images would be almost shot in homage to Irving Penn. i feel that still life is an art form all in itself that showcases the essence of all photography in freezing a moment of time for all eternity so to speak. i would want to utilise these skills by capturing objects of every day modern life think of all the things that we see on a day to day basis that we take for granted, from headphones to laptops televisions and mobile phones. even things like bottle openers items that some would call every day necessities. but i would photograph these in an ironic way to say they are luxuries that we can live without and quite frankly could be better without. i would look to shoot these on wet plate collodion as my preferred medium as i feel the tones and clarity of wet plate would truly show off these images in their best light.

costs and considerations

costs would be significantly lower than the above projects as i would be in a fully controlled environment the advantage of being in a controlled environment would mean more control of light and substance and temperature control would be easier so less plates would be wasted during the process. the biggest thing i would need to worry about would be which items i would need to secure for the photoshoots as some of these could be quite large and transportation would be difficult but not impossible.

now obviously there is a slightly recurring theme in terms of my chosen medium, wet plate collodion has become my preferred artistic method. the largest problem as all ways with life and art in general is time. i need lots of it to be able to successfully complete this body of work. of the three proposal’s i would only be picking one to go ahead and create my final major project with. however both other proposals would be ideas that i have spent so long generating these ideas that i would most certainly pursue them for personal projects.

so keep an eye out for all these projects in the future and be ready for the announcement of the Solihull College end of year exhibition dates and times to be confirmed

until next

PJ x

]]>https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2017/03/28/the-end-is-nigh/feed/14paperless2pauljphotoartpaperless2coventry_city_of_culture_identity_-_primary_finalCathedral Ruinsd217dda2-005a-4af8-9a95-d957ce5186ad_570“Masterji”https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/masterji/
https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/masterji/#respondThu, 24 Nov 2016 14:28:10 +0000http://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/?p=1051More “Masterji”]]>I had the opportunity recently to attend an exhibition at the incredible creative cornucopia that is Fargo village in coventry if you haven’t attended I heavily recommend it the traders there are super friendly and it also goes to support our local artisans and traders as opposed to the “big boys” check out their website below.

It was an exhibit put together and organised by the work of a local group of individuals called the Photo Archive Miners who did an exceptional job at keeping this exhibit incredibly informative and thought provoking at the same time. please do visit their website below

The exhibit I attended was the work of the incredible Maganbhai Patel otherwise known as Masterji (a hat tip to his teaching past) over the last 60 years. Masterji has photographed and documented countless images of the lives of south asian immigrants in Coventry.it is almost a shame that it has taken until he was 94 to see his first major exhibit but fingers crossed we will continue to see more from this body of work as the photo archive miners keep digging so to speak.

When walking into the exhibit you are confronted with the harsh reality that these people would face but it almost felt insignificant, Masterji tends to have a way of empowering his subjects in his photographs and he does it with such natural finesse and almost effortlessness. The exhibit showed a variety of images from early fifties black and white to colour negative enlargements all the way through to his later work. The one thing you notice that is underlaying in his images are they are incredibly personal and touching. he uses composition to draw the viewers eye to what he wants you to look at, shots from the seventies that had hand painted backdrops leaning against a wall in his home. while other photographers from his day would have cropped closer in to the subject to cut out the surroundings of the image masterji included the worn skirting boards and tatty wall paper and showed the studio lights in the image. this gives that extra sense of how real these people were and are to this day.

My partner and i had the pleasure meeting one of the many people in the exhibit who was photographed by masterji many years previous. shown below along side the image of himself at the top of the image

After talking to this lovely gentleman for about 10 minutes or so he told us about his wife of many years who had unfortunately passed away fairly recently and on the funeral service was an image that meant the world to him and his family and it was a shot taken by no less than masterji. This said something to me, that these images that masterji took weren’t just throwaway images like the thousands of pictures on most peoples cameraphones and in todays society they stood for that power and solidarity in a community that seem like a thing of the past.

That being said with the dedicated work of the hard working folks from the photo archive miners they seem to keep digging up treasures in the past to remind us of a community that still remains we just have to ensure that we actively partake. I will certainly start work on something community based long term utilising my love of the darkroom and historical process so watch this space .

until next time

PJ x

]]>https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/masterji/feed/0img_6152pauljphotoartimg_6205img_6154img_6209*Updated* images for Cornwall shoothttps://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/10/28/updated-images-for-cornwall-shoot/
https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/10/28/updated-images-for-cornwall-shoot/#respondFri, 28 Oct 2016 20:06:57 +0000http://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/?p=1029More *Updated* images for Cornwall shoot]]>You may have remembered if you are a follower to my blogs that I recently posted some images shot on film of the wonderful and beautiful landscapes of Cornwall. however with that being said I didn’t feel that these images best portrayed the beauty of Cornwall and I have done a bit of fine tuning so to speak to ensure that the images I settled on were the best that they could be and also that they shared the same narrative. Below are the final ‘ final images (and i mean it this time)
Click to view slideshow.

as always until next time

PJ xx

]]>https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/10/28/updated-images-for-cornwall-shoot/feed/0landscapecornwall2016-125pauljphotoartLocation Portraiturehttps://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/10/27/location-portraiture/
https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/10/27/location-portraiture/#respondThu, 27 Oct 2016 17:22:24 +0000http://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/?p=983More Location Portraiture]]>The whole purpose of me going back to study was to figure out what i wanted to do with my photographic skills and during the summer i had the pleasure to photograph a lovely young lady who hadn’t done a photoshoot but was a natural. during the shoot i figured out why i had got back behind the camera. I LOVE CAPTURING IMAGES.

The assignment was to shoot on location whether that be portraiture landscape etc I had already shot Cornwall on film as you will see in my previous blog post. so I decided to shoot some portraiture. The aim was to take some images of the young lady and try and capture some images her mother and father would be happy with (and obviously that she would like too). I decided to shoot at Coombe abbey which is one of my favourite locations in coventry for portraiture as there are beautiful grounds and stunning backdrops. it turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year. which i understand is not that hot in the grand scheme of things. but when you are carrying a lot of camera equipment it can get pretty warm. the mother of the model decided to bring a few different outfits so we had a couple of different looks to go for. the vast majority of the clothing were pink and floral which suited the location perfectly. After going through my contact sheets and cutting down my final images i have a final 12 that i gave to the client who was extremely happy with them.

]]>https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/10/27/location-portraiture/feed/0mya-aug-2016-1011pauljphotoartLandscape’s of Cornwallhttps://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/10/14/landscapes-of-cornwall/
https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/10/14/landscapes-of-cornwall/#respondFri, 14 Oct 2016 11:36:00 +0000http://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/?p=947More Landscape’s of Cornwall]]>We were set a brief at college to complete a landscape shoot with light in mind i thought i would push myself to shoot with film and a separate spot meter . not only did this offer up the challenge of having an in depth understanding of light but also lots of fun for me. the main reason i opted for film is medium format can offer me better tonal range than my digital equipment. The client was the Cornwall tourist board i aimed to take shots at various different locations to try and give a wide variety of different spots. i find every time i go to cornwall there are more and more places to discover so i shot some of the more obvious tourism locations but also others that are not too well known. . i shot mainly on medium format colour reversal film (velvia/provia) so there really is no exposure latitude meaning you have to get it right in camera. i spent pretty much two days in the darkroom developing each roll of film by hand as i wanted to ensure the shots came out the way i wanted them and didn’t have faith in any labs to take care of them for me. Below are the final images i opted for but i assure you there are lots more.

please let me know if there is anything you like or dislike about these images or indeed if you would like to see more

Many thanks

Paul x

]]>https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/10/14/landscapes-of-cornwall/feed/0img125pauljphotoartimg125img126img129img137img139img146img147img148img150img151img180img191img121img027img051img017img016img010“here we see a model in her natural habitat”https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/09/21/live-on-location-fashion/
https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/09/21/live-on-location-fashion/#respondWed, 21 Sep 2016 14:33:02 +0000http://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/?p=918More “here we see a model in her natural habitat”]]>All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth. – Richard Avedon – 1984

Recently i had the pleasure of shooting a fashion on location. the aim was to use a professional model outdoors or an location somewhere (not in the studio). Things to bear in mind when shooting on location is that you cannot control light which is the essential part of a photoshoot and being in control. There are things you can do as a prepared photographer that ensure you can be best prepared. things included are reflectors, strobe lights , constant lights or flashguns. I used a reflector as it was relatively strong over head light so a reflector was tilted below the models chin to reduce shadows and make a more tonal shot. I shot on a nikon D800 with 70-200 at f2.8 to ensure i could up the shutter speed as high as possible to reduce camera shake. I had lots of fun doing this shoot however i would have loved a little more time with the as a few of the shots i was getting were not perfect as a few of the images became unusable due to the focus point being on the rear of the eye.

As a first thought one would assume fashion photography was all about the clothes but you would be wrong. a combination of lighting , composition , aesthetics depth of field and posing can make the difference between a successful fashion shot and just a run of the mill one. i was lucky enough to attend a fashion on location workshop with the exceptionally talented Talia White i have listed a link to Talia’s facebook page feel free to go take a look and be amazed at the quality of work.

one of the many things i took away from Talia was to simplify when shooting fashion. as brands generally want a good representation of their garments etc. so for the shoot i decided to go simple unfortunately the model only had one outfit as i really enjoyed this shoot i think the shots came out well and i look forward to more shoots like this.

If I was to evaluate and look at my work in a critical way I would say the images work really well however I would most definitely make use of a reflector to try and reduce any shadow on the face as there were bags under the models eyes. I feel that my editing is a little different between the series though. some images have a more warm tone to them and others and cooler. I would definitely re edit these to ensure the images are consistent I would have also looked at the details of the model before shooting to see that the belt she was wearing was a little tight and not too flattering to the shape.

We were asked to test some flash styles with a Speedlight both on camera and off camera so myself and one of my peers went out around the college to take some shots below is the equipment used.

Nikon D800

Nikon 24-70 f 2.8

Yongnuo YN568EX

SanDisk extreme pro

Yongnuo flash triggers YN-622N

The different settings that can be harnessed on a flashgun are explained below

iTTL – it uses a low powered pre flash from the flash before the mirror is raised using the inbuilt RGB meter preflash occurs when the lens aperture is wide open , preflash calculation sets the power level of the flash to correctly expose the image with the desired settings such as aperture, ISO and shutter speed all in mind.

M- manual control mode is as it sounds you can control the power output of a flash and this is displayed in a fraction so full power is 1/1 half power by a stop is ¼ and so on and so forth all the way down to 1/128 now obviously when using manual flash mode you have to compensate with the camera setting exactly how much light will be added via the flash

One thing to bear in mind is max flash sync speed its not possibly to use on camera flash as standard at all shutter speeds for example the flash gun on my camera it will allow for a shutter speed of 1/320th

Below is a shot taken with the flash in iTTL mode

exif: 1/320 f7.1 ISO 100

This was shot with direct flash (pointing directly at the subject) it tends to be quite harsh and can give harsh shadow cast on the background if it is too close to the subject below is another example of direct flash

exif data: 1/320 f 7.1 ISO 100

exif data: 1/320 f 7.1 ISO 100

next I shot from the same position with the flash head facing upwards to use the bounce of the white ceiling you notice that it gives a slight shadow cast on the face below the nose and below the chin and eyes as shown below

Exif data: 1/320 f 7.1 ISO 100

The next image was using the built in diffuser and white card camera was in portrait and the flash was facing to the left the white card one thing to remember about flash is that light is directional and can be manipulated to your needs you just need the tools as shown below

exif data: 1/320 f 7.1 ISO 100

Flash can be used outdoors to even out ambient exposure values to increase the dynamic range of an image. For instance everyone has taken a snapshot where the sun is behind the subject and the shade is over the face the flash gun can cancel out the shade on the face as shown below

Exif data: 1/320 f5.6 ISO 100

exif data: 1/320 f 5.6 ISO 100

Overleaf is an example of a shot I took on location that shows how harsh shadows can be created from bright overhead midday sun. The image shows a harsh shadow from the models right hand side of the face this would have been solved with a flash gun off to camera left on a stand used as a fill light to decrease the harshness of the shadow

Exif: iso 100 f6.3 1/2500th

I feel that off camera flash is a massive benefit and understanding flash and light in general can be a huge benefit as an artist and as a photographer. i will be making use of flash both off camera and on camera when the time is needed i think to be adept in the field of photography you must understand when flash use is a necessity and when it isn’t needed. i plan to do a child portraiture shoot in the middle of the day that i will most certainly need flash as i would want to reduce any harsh shadows on the face or anywhere else.

until next time

PJ x

]]>https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/06/07/flash-tests/feed/08pauljphotoart12345678English Heritagehttps://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/06/07/english-heritage/
https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/06/07/english-heritage/#respondTue, 07 Jun 2016 18:15:58 +0000http://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/?p=828More English Heritage]]>We were asked at college to work to a clients brief and see what we could come up with. The brief was to take a series of images for English Heritage at the magnificent Witley Court that would entice a new young fresh modern clientele between ages 20-30, but first let me tell you about witley court and all the fantastic work that english heritage does to maintain these grounds and hundreds more all over the uk.

English heritage are a charity that uphold historical sites all over the uk from Stonehenge to the better parts of Hadrian’s wall . They are all about history but teaching you in the best way possible at the places that history happened. They pride themselves on being as accurate to the truth as possible. One of the sites that english heritage maintain is Witley court which i had the pleasure of visiting recently.

Witley court built in 1655 is located in rural Worcestershire England, it was once a great stately home of the midlands but after a huge fire broke out in 1937 the home fell to ruin and needed alot of work to maintain what was left, as shown below

The image above shows the actual fire captured from the air a devastating moment for people at the time without the work of english heritage this place may not be standing today.

The client brief for english heritage showed some challenges as to gaining the key audience. So I thought a bit of research was due so the first thing I did was go on trip advisor to read some reviews and then it got me thinking that in sales or marketing of any kind it is word of mouth that is such a powerful selling tool and to appeal to a younger audience. This got me thinking that my first reaction was to go on trip advisor to see what the place is like and there are alot of other people that do the same as me all over the uk. So I thought I would utilise the reviews on there and overlay the text over the images. The reviews that I used are shown below

These images above show the editing style of a slightly nostalgic image with subtle warmer tones to show good weather. I used 3d text to try and modernise and refresh an otherwise overdone style of photograph I am not sure the text works 100% so I thought if I was approaching the client with this angle I would like to take another style to give them options as to which ones to use so I used a method that is incredibly popular at the moment with large bold text over the image as shown below

until next time

PJ x

]]>https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/06/07/english-heritage/feed/0SIMPLYBEAUTIFULflatpauljphotoartwitley_court_fire_1937_2Toning printshttps://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/toning-prints/
https://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/toning-prints/#respondTue, 24 May 2016 21:54:47 +0000http://pauljohnsonphotoart.wordpress.com/?p=772More Toning prints]]>Color is very much about atmosphere and emotion and the feel of a place. – Alex Webb

we recently had the opportunity to test out some toning of images. toning is effectively changing the look and feel of a photograph with various liquids and dyes. we had the opportunity to try out a few the image i started with was a shot from a recent trip to Poland shot on my Leica M3 on kodak Tri-x. as shown below is a print of said image

i absolutely love this image and the various tones i think it printed very well so i decided to print five more of the same print so i could see how different each look with a different colour tone applied. each image has to be left in the tone tray for about 3 minutes apart from the blue which is only a minute and the yellow and red for around 10 minutes

in the first tray is blue tone and in the second a salt bath to stop the blue dye, unfortunately i feel this was contaminated as it something a little unexpected happened

any form of dark tone has almost washed away with the blue. the house at the bottom right is barely visible and almost solarised. but overall a very bizzare look to the image.

next tray was the antique sepia tone which is the most traditional method of toning an image

this truly gives an authentic vintage look to the image and i feel this suits the image very well

next was the red dye which actually was as you can guess a bottle of red wine

*disclaimer no alcohol was consumed during the toning of these images

this gives an almost pink look to the image very cool affect indeed.

next was the yellow food colouring

i feel if i could combine the two dyes above it may create a cool looking sunset image with autumnal feels to the colour

and last but not least is coffee.

coffee creates a very cheap alternative to the antique sepia tone. however the image has to spend alot more time in the coffee to absorb the dye.

overall i am very happy with how the toning worked and i feel this is a useful skill to add to any Anologue printers arsenal so to speak

Pushing film is the practice of tricking your camera to underexpose in metering and then to pull ( to develop for more time ) the film back in processing . it is something i rarely need to try as i use my Leica m3 unmetered and also my Mamiya RB67 pro s so the need to push a film and pull developing is not necessary so to have a go i thought i would get my olympus om10 out kodak TRI-x is one of the favourites of pro photographers B and w film as it has absolutely beautiful thick emulsion and very punchy high contrast when pushed i had asked around on some film photography groups how far others have pushed this film and i thought lets try pushing to 1600 as i heard these results tend to be pretty awesome and grainy so lets see what we got.

one problem i had with drying these negatives was they dried arched so every time i would try and load them into the negative carrier for the scanner they would be out of focus in the centre of the image so i asked a few people on various groups for tips and tricks and the easiest solution was to reverse roll the negatives into a film cannister and leave for a day or two and voila perfectly straight so for those who gave suggestions thank you